Atheos | ‘The Death Of Utopia’

Most bands take a while to mature with their early wares. With the good ones, you can always hear quality in spite of crap productions or sloppy playing. Rarely though does one come along boasting not only total confidence, but a perfect production and razor sharp technique.

Atheos seem to have come from absolutely nowhere (Mullingar) and landed us with a cd that easily rivals the best DM across the Irish sea at present. Their influences are worn proudly. It’s like they’ve taken the energy of Cryptosy’s ‘Whisper Supremacy’, blended it with Gojira’s swooning, powerful songwriting and just underpinned it all with a vintage Morbid Angel base. They have got so much right it’s unbelievable.

The little drum skips on ‘The Prestige Of Immortality’ are pure Flo Mournier. The guitar sweeps and high fretboard workouts that flow throughout are similarly of the Cryptopsy and Suffocation school. Thoough undeniably cool on a technical level, it’s not actually these that prove the most impressive.

That’s down to the riff work, which is absolutely top drawer. Atheos know a breakdown, know a chorus and know how to work their music into a message. It’s here that the Morbid Angel references come in. No other death metal band gave their music a leadership and personality than The Ancient Ones in full stride. When Atheos are bellowing through ‘Cities Collapse’, you can hear they’ve learned these lessons well.

Slow closer ‘The Death Of Utopia’ is interesting as well. Its slow, menacing build only goes to confirm the songwriting maturity that Atheos have evidently honed before going live with their band. They’re the band that has the confidence and the surety in their message to slow down and grind out an intense, powerfully heavy dirge. It’s a fantastic piece.

It was noted earlier that this EP competes with the best of what’s going on the UK, death metal wise. This wipes the floor with alot of it, for the simple reason that Atheos can write a song. A lot of bands, good technically, stay there. Atheos are good technically, but have apparently concentrated even more on writing music with a message. The result can only be devastating. They’ve got their priorities absolutely right.

4.4 / 5 - Earl Grey ::: 28/09/09